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Poll: Sequester to hit economy

A majority of Americans believe the $85 billion in automatic budget cuts scheduled to begin on Friday will hurt the economy, with Republicans most certain of the coming damage, according to a poll Thursday.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans think sequestration will harm the national economy. In the Gallup Poll, 30 percent don’t believe the economy will get worse. Forty-four percent also think it will harm their personal financial situations, while 45 percent do not.

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Republicans are far more certain than Democrats that it will hurt economic growth, 64 percent to 51 percent. They’re also more likely to believe, 54 percent to 34 percent, that the cuts will hit their wallet, Gallup found.

But Republicans are also less likely to want to stop the cuts, $85 billion of which would hit this year. By a 43 percent to 40 percent margin, the GOP does prefer delaying the cuts to letting them happen. But 47 percent of Democrats would delay the cuts, compared with 34 percent who would let them happen.

Negotiations to avert the cuts are at a standstill, although President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with congressional leaders on Friday.

The poll of 1,017 adults was conducted Feb. 25-26. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.